In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Martial Arts in general we often hear people use phrases like “Strength doesn’t matter”, “You don’t need strength if you have technique” or other comments of that nature. I’d assume that most of the people making these comments are people who don’t really understand what strength is or they aren’t very strong themselves. Either way, comments like these are very far from the truth. Of course, improving your technique and understanding of Jiu Jitsu should be your priority, I just find it a bit silly to completely ignore some that clearly play a role in the art. Here are some of those reasons along with the movements that are going to give you the biggest bang for your buck in your pursuit of strength.
So if we understand what strength is we can clearly see how it would benefit us to be stronger, not only in Jiu Jitsu but in life in general. Strength can be defined as one’s ability to produce force against an external object, i.e the person you’re training with or competing against. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu uses position and leverage to give a smaller or weaker person a better chance against their bigger and or stronger opponent, it doesn’t eliminate the fact that force has to be produced to execute these techniques. Even when performing a technique perfectly against a partner who is not resisting some degree of force is required. Now with a resisting opponent who is also trained and trying to apply his techniques against you, our ability to produce force becomes even more useful. Take the example of two Jiu Jitsu practitioners equal in skill. One of them can deadlift 150lbs and the other can deadlift 400lbs, which one of these guys is likely to win a match? I’m confident that the guy who can pick up more than twice the amount of weight off the floor wins. The muscles he uses to execute his techniques are stronger, therefore the resistance placed on him by his opponent will be less stressful than the resistance he can place on his opponent. It is easier to understand this idea when instead of thinking of techniques as just techniques, we think of what is happening physiologically when performing the techniques. Let’s take an armbar from the top for instance. If you’re reading this you probably know what an armbar is, if not, you can quickly find it online. When applying the armbar we are looking to put our opponents elbow into hyperextension by keeping the arm against our body and extending our hips. Well, how do we extend our hips? We do so with a contraction of the hip extensor muscles, primarily being our glutes and hamstrings. So if we know that our glutes and hamstrings have to go into contraction to perform the armbar, how could it not be beneficial for those muscles to be stronger? We can follow this thought process with any technique.
Now, which exercises and training protocols are going to be best for strengthening the muscles used when training Jiu Jitsu? When building absolute strength, you’re going to want to go with a powerlifting protocol that focuses on increasing the amount of weight you can lift in the four main compound movements. This includes the squat, bench press, deadlift and an overhead press. These are all multi joint movements that improve strength in several different muscles and muscle groups. You’re going to get a lot more out of a squat than you’re from a seated leg extension. The seated leg extension isolates the quad and when training Jiu Jitsu our muscles are never moving in isolation.
Strength is important, not only for our Jiu Jitsu but also in our life as a whole. Yes, improving your technique should be your priority and is most important for success in your Jiu Jitsu journey, but being strong will only compliment your technique. You don’t have to be the strongest in the room but you’re putting yourself at a greater disadvantage if you completely ignore this aspect of training . I suggest finding someone who is familiar with the process of getting stronger or you can find a program to follow online. They’re many programs out there so experiment until you find the one that works best for you. If you’re interested in some of the protocols I use to improve my strength while training Jiu Jitsu you can reach out to me at paulgrantmma@gmail.com.